1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a cap plug provided with a check valve, which is mounted on a toy or a balloon for advertisement interiorly sealed with gases such as air, hydrogen or helium, and more particularly to a cap plug having a construction suitable for an automatic supplying machine or a vending machine for balloons.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional cap plug construction of this kind is shown in FIG. 7.
In FIG. 7, a reference numeral 1 designates a rubber balloon body and 2 designates a cap plug. The cap plug 2 is composed of a cylindrical closed-end cap body 3 pressed into a mouth portion of the balloon body 1 through a check valve and vent hole 4, and a hanging and exhibiting guide and grip portion 5 provided integrally with an open leading edge of the body 3 through a connecting member 15 that may be cut off by means of a cutter. An annular rib 6 is formed integrally with the outer periphery on the front end of the body 3. The rib 6 causes the mouth portion of the rubber balloon 1 to be pressed into engagement to prevent the mouth portion from being slipped out.
The guide and grip portion 5 has an annular spool groove 7 formed in the outer periphery in the neighbourhood of the separable connecting member 15 and an annular guide groove 8 formed in the outer periphery at a position adjacent to the spool groove 7.
A length of thread 9 is wound about the spool groove 7 to provide a linkage between the body 3 and the guide and grip portion 5.
In the conventional constrcution of the cap plug as described above, the body 3 is pressed into the mouth portion of the balloon body 1, and the end of the mouth portion is brought into engagement with the annular rib 6 of the body 3. In this state, the guide groove 8 of the guide and grip portion 5 is slidably fitted and held between parallel guide rails 10 (see FIG. 4) provided on the vending machine thereby to hang a plurality of balloons 1 adjacent to each other within the vending machine.
When the balloons are supplied, a gas injecting nozzle is automatically inserted into the body 3 to inject a compressed gas. The gas is then injected into the body 1 through the vent hole 4 of the body 3 whereby the body 1 in inflated to a predetermined volume. When pressure is released, the inner surfaces of the balloon block the vent hole 4 to prevent the gas from being excaped.
Next, the connecting member 15 between the body 1 and the guide and grip portion 5 is automatically cut and separated by a cutter provided on the vending machine to be supplied to an outlet.
In the conventional construction of the cap plug, the body 3 and the guide and grip portion 5 are of an integral construction through the separable connecting member 15. When the balloons are supplied or sold, the connecting member 15 has to be automatically cut otherwise the body 1 cannot be separated from the guide and grip portion 5. This leads to a problem that sales of balloons is merely made by a specific vending machine provided with an automatic cutter, and for example, the balloons cannot be sold in bulk at stores.
This invention has been accomplished in order to solve the problem noted above. An object of the invention is to provide a cap-plug constructin of a balloon which can be easily separated without cutting the cap plug body and the guide and grip portion.